It is well known that the water supplied by waterworks is usually added chlorine for disinfection because chlorine is identified as a disinfecting agent. However, certain carcinogenic trihalomethanes may be formed by residual chlorine. Some diseases such as fracture, dry, falling-out and discoloration of the hairs as well as allergy, itch, dry and scaling of the skin are easily induced if people frequently showered by the warm shower water containing certain residual chlorine for a long time. For dechlorination of the residual chlorine in the shower water, the prior art of U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,977 discloses a design in title of “hand held shower head and filter housing”, which insert a filter cartridge into the handheld handle to absorb the residual chlorine in the shower water. Besides, the prior art has been also commercialized into a marketing product of prior art “handheld shower head with built-in filter”, which comprises a handheld showerhead 1 and a filter cartridge cylinder containing a filter cartridge 70 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, wherein the handheld showerhead 1 includes a water inlet orifice 2 with male tubular threads 3, a cap 4 with existing spray holes 5; and the filter cartridge cylinder 70 includes a water outlet orifice 71 with female tubular threads 72, a water inlet orifice 73 with male tubular threads 74, and a lot of mixed filter media 75 of activated carbon or non-soluble calcium sulfite (CaSO3) and a copper-zinc media filled therein such that the filter cartridge cylinder 70 can be jointed with the handheld showerhead 1 via coupling of male tubular threads 3 of the water inlet orifice 2 and the female tubular threads 72 of the water outlet orifice 71. Thereby, the residual chlorine in the shower water W flowing through filter cartridge 70 will be absorbed and removed by the mixed filter media 75 so that clean shower water W without residual chlorine will be sprayed out the spray holes 5 on the cap 4 of the handheld showerhead 1 (as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3).
Normally, the activated carbon or calcium sulfite (CaSO3) of the filter media 75 in the filter cartridge 70 has each service life of its own for effectively dechlorination. Usually, the manufacturer of the activated carbon or calcium sulfite (CaSO3) will label the product to mark each effective service life of the filter cartridge 70 with limited total water flow quantity such as 300 Gallon or 500 Gallon. For instance of filter cartridge 70 with effective service life of 300 Gallon, the filter cartridge 70 must be replaced due to invalid of dechlorination if the total spent water flow quantity is 300 Gallon. However, the shower user does not know the exact time of reaching expiration of service life for the filter cartridge 70 because he/she is unable to realize the exact total flow quantity of shower water W that flows through the filter cartridge 70 in the prior art “handheld shower head with built-in filter”. Two drawbacks are incurred by the facts mentioned above. Either user may waste money to increase economical burden if his/her replacement time of the filter cartridge 70 is early to expiration of service life thereof, or the filter cartridge 70 may become invalid of dechlorination to induce harmful healthful effects if his/her replacement time of the filter cartridge 70 is late to expiration of service life thereof.
For solving foregoing drawbacks in unpunctual replacement of filter cartridge 70, the inventor of the present invention firstly contrived a design of “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-alarm device”, which is already granted by patents of R.O.C. patent No. 1275417, U.S. Pat. No. 7,468,127, Mainland China patent No. 858391, U.K. patent No. GB-2435797 and Korea patent No. 10-0912738 in filed records. Subsequently, the inventor of the present invention next contrived a new design of “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-display device”, which is already published by patent applications of R.O.C. patent published No. 201406337 and US patent published No. 20140042241. To differentiate the application of the present invention from the prior arts, both of the “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-alarm device” and “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-display device” are put in a same category. Therefore, the prior art “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-alarm device” can also represent the prior art “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-display device” in this specification. The prior art “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-alarm device” comprises a showerhead 10, an alerting pod 20, a signal circuit device 30, an impeller 40, an internal panel 50 and a hood 60 in addition to conventional filter cartridge cylinder containing a filter cartridge 70 aforesaid as shown in FIGS. 4 to 14 and FIG. 21, wherein said showerhead 10, which is a plastic hollow casing extruded into unitary piece having a mantle 13 encompassed an obverse side 11 with a set of rim male threads 121 and a reverse side 12 as an integral body, has a handle butt 14 with a set of male tubular threads 16 formed on the tapered peripheral thereof to connect with the filter cartridge cylinder 70, a hollow water inlet orifice 15 created in the handle butt 14, a receptacle 17 inwardly created into the obverse side 11, a water exit bore base 19 and an impeller well 18 with a central impeller hub notch 181 further inwardly created into internal bottom of the receptacle 17, and a water inlet channel 182 created to communicate between the water inlet orifice 15 in the handle butt 14 and the adjacent side of the impeller well 18 while a water outlet channel 183 created to communicate between the water exit bore base 19 and the other side of the impeller well 18 (as dotted line portion shown in FIG. 6), as well as in the reverse side 12, a finger guiding groove 125 and a round docking socket 122 with a docking hole 123 inwardly created into the inner wall thereof in opposite manner, and a snap latching jut 124 upwardly created into the bottom wall thereof to let a detachable alerting pod 20 inserting therein (as indicated by two enlarged circular views shown in FIG. 5); said conventional filter cartridge cylinder includes a filter cartridge 70 in a detachable handle cylinder with a set of female tubular threads 72 formed in jointing end section thereof for being mated with the set of male tubular threads 16 of the handle butt 14 (as shown in FIG. 21); said internal lid 50, which is a planiform disk tightly attached on the bottom side of the receptacle 17 in the showerhead 10, has an inward surface 51 facing toward the obverse side 11 of the showerhead 10, a impeller hub notch 52 created therein to correspond with the impeller hub notch 181 of the impeller well 18, a water outlet 53 created therein to correspond with the water exit bore base 19 of the receptacle 17 in the showerhead 10, and a plurality of screw holes 54 peripherally created the marginal rim thereof such that the screw holes 54 spread around the impeller hub notch 52 and water outlet 33; said impeller 40, which is a cylindrical profile body with plural curved vanes equivalently extending radically, has two central protruding hubs 41 being coaxially disposed at top side and bottom side thereof respectively, and a magnetic element 42 embedded in the top cut of one vane (as shown in FIG. 8) such that the impeller 40 is freely rotatable in the impeller well 18 by means of two central protruding hubs 81 being mated with the impeller hub notch 181 of the impeller well 18 and the impeller hub notch 52 of the internal lid 50 respectively (as shown in FIG. 14); said hood 60, which is a plastic disk extruded into unitary piece, has a hoop female threads 61 created around the bottom rim thereof and a plurality of water spray holes 62 spread over the surface thereof so that the hoop female threads 91 can mate with the rim male threads 121 on the obverse side 11 of the showerhead 10 by screwing engagement (as shown in FIG. 9) while the water spray holes 62 enable the water in the receptacle 17 on the obverse side 11 of the showerhead 10 to jet out; said alerting pod 20, which is a plastic capsule made by a plastic transparent lid 21 and a plastic mounting cavity 22 via high frequency fusion method into a hermetically watertight integral body for being embedded into the round docking socket 122 of the reverse side 12 in the showerhead 10 (as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11), in the mounting cavity 22, has a docking jut 23 outwardly created on the peripheral surface thereof, and a snap latching nick 24 downwardly created into the bottom wall thereof, as well as two rechargeable electrodes 25 firmly inset in internal bottom wall of the mounting cavity 22 such that each individual end of each rechargeable electrode 25 protruding out of the mounting cavity 22 (as lower enlarged view shown in FIG. 11); and said signal circuit device 30, which is contained in the alerting pod 20, includes a microprocessor 31, a LCD display circuit 32 electrically connected to the microprocessor 31 with its location near the transparent lid 21, a rechargeable battery 33 electrically connected to the microprocessor 31, and a magnetic reed switch 34 securely inset on the internal bottom side of the mounting cavity 22 (as shown in FIG. 10) such that the rechargeable battery 33 is electrically connected with the rechargeable electrodes 25 of the alerting pod 20 via a pair of electric wires L (as lower enlarged view shown in FIG. 11), wherein the rechargeable battery 33 can be either nickel-chromium battery or lithium battery, and the magnetic reed switch 34 can be replaced by Hall-effect component.
For assembly steps for all components aforesaid, please further refer to FIGS. 12 to 19.
a. Align the protruding hub 41 (upper side in figure) of the impeller 40 having magnetic element 42 in one vane with the impeller hub notch 181 of the impeller well 18 in the obverse side 11 of the showerhead 10, then put the protruding hub 41 into the impeller hub notch 181 so that the magnetic element 42 of the impeller 40 faces toward the round docking socket 122 of the showerhead 10 (as shown in FIG. 12).
b. Attach the inward surface 51 of the internal lid 50 against the top surface of the receptacle 17 in the showerhead 10 so that the impeller hub notch 52 of the internal lid 50 sleeves over the other protruding hub 41 of the impeller 40 (as lower side shown in FIG. 13), drive every self-drilling screws S into the internal bottom wall of the receptacle 17 via corresponding screw hole 54 of the internal lid 50 respectively so that the internal lid 50 closely attach with the top surface of the receptacle 17 to allow the impeller 40 be freely rotatable in the impeller well 18 (as shown in FIG. 14).
c. Mate the hoop female threads 61 on the hood 60 with the rim male threads 121 on the obverse side 11 of the showerhead 10 by screwing engagement to complete the assembly for the obverse side 11 of the showerhead 10 (as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15).
d. Align and mate the docking jut 23 in the mounting cavity 22 of the alerting pod 20 with the docking hole 123 in the round docking socket 122 of the reverse side 12 of the showerhead 10 (as shown in FIG. 16 and left upper enlarged view shown in FIG. 17) so that the bottom side of the snap latching nick 24 in the mounting cavity 22 will contact with the top side of the snap latching jut 124 in the round docking socket 122 (as right upper enlarged view shown in FIG. 17). Then, thoroughly latch the snap latching nick 24 in the mounting cavity 22 with the snap latching jut 124 of the round docking socket 122 by forcibly applying downward force F1 over the transparent lid 21 (as right upper enlarged view shown in FIG. 18) so that the docking jut 23 in the mounting cavity 22 also fully latches with the docking hole 123 in the round docking socket 122 simultaneously (as two upper enlarged views shown in FIG. 19) to complete the assembly for the alerting pod 20 and showerhead 10. Thus the overall assembly steps in the “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-alarm device” are finished.
For practical use and operation mode, please further refer to FIGS. 20 to 22. Prior to operate the showerhead, firstly screw the female tubular threads 72 in the water outlet orifice 71 of the filter cartridge cylinder 70 with the male tubular threads 16 on the handle butt 14 of the showerhead 10 (as shown in FIG. 21), then connect a detachable water pipe P to the male tubular threads 74 on the water inlet orifice 73 of the filter cartridge cylinder 70 (as shown in FIGS. 20 and 21). Once the shower water W flows through the filter cartridge 70, it enters into the impeller well 18 orderly via the water inlet orifice 15 in the handle butt 14, and the water inlet channel 182 to drive the impeller 40 rotate. Then, the shower water W in the impeller well 18 flows out of the water outlet 53 in the internal lid 50 orderly via the water outlet channel 183 and the water exit bore base 19. Finally, the shower water W is jetted out of the water spray holes 62 in the hood 60 (as shown in FIGS. 21 and 22). Wherein, for each rotation of the impeller 40 driven by the running shower water W, the magnetic element 42 thereof simultaneously switches the magnetic reed switch 34 in the alerting pod 20 one time to induce a switching signal, which is relayed to the microprocessor 31 in the signal circuit device 30 for being processed to generate an accumulated data in certain preset interval for further transmitting to the LCD display circuit 32 for displaying related quantity of water flux thereon in accordance with following formula:Quantity of water flux (Q)=Cross sectional area (A) times Flow velocity (V)
Thereby, a user of the showerhead can get real time statistical data of the total filtered water quantity flowed through filter cartridge 70 by simply means of looking at the LCD display circuit 32 via the transparent lid 21 of the alerting pod 20. Once the total filtered water quantity flowed through filter cartridge 70 reaches (or near reaches) a predetermined critical value for the rated service life time of the specific filter cartridge 70, the microprocessor 31 will send a alerting signal with current data of the total filtered water quantity to the LCD display circuit 32 for reminding the user to notice that it is the time to replace the filter cartridge 70 timely to assure good quality of the filter cartridge 70 and filtered water thereby. Therefore, the user can avoid the harmful consequences to the health caused by the unclean water incurred by missing the replacement time and still continuously use the ineffective filter cartridge 70.
For replacing the filter cartridge 70 or recharging the rechargeable battery 33, please further refer to FIGS. 23 to 28. The prior art hand held shower head with filter replacing pre-alarm device of the further comprises a battery recharging mount 80, which includes a battery charging cavity 81 with a pair of battery charging electrodes 82 to securely contact the corresponding pair protruding ends of the rechargeable electrodes 25 in the mounting cavity 22 of the alerting pod 20 for performing suitably recharging operation to the rechargeable battery 33 in the alerting pod 20. The power of the rechargeable battery 33 in the alerting pod 20 might run out when the filter cartridge 70 has been replaced several times. In operation mode of replacing the filter cartridge 70 or recharging the rechargeable battery 33, firstly, hook the marginal edge of the transparent lid 21 in the alerting pod 20 by one finger along the finger guiding groove 125 in the reverse side 12 of the showerhead 10 (as shown in FIG. 23), then apply an upward force F2 on the mounting cavity 22 (as shown in FIG. 24), the snap latching nick 24 of the alerting pod 20 will bounce off the snap latching jut 124 in the round docking socket 122 of the showerhead 10 (as right upper enlarged view shown in FIG. 24); secondly, continuously apply an upward force F2 on the mounting cavity 22, the entire alerting pod 20 will fully detach off the round docking socket 122 in the reverse side 12 of the showerhead 10 (as shown in FIGS. 25 and 26); and finally, insert the detached alerting pod 20 into the battery recharging cavity 81 of the battery recharging mount 80, the rechargeable battery 33 in the alerting pod 20 will be properly recharged (as shown in FIGS. 27 and 28).
The prior art “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-alarm device”, which is already published by R.O.C. patent published No. 201406337 and US patent published No. 20140042240, does have achieved the expected effects after having been practically tested for many times. However, some issues such as top-heavy awkwardness, quickened aging fatigue and redundant purchase waste are also found as below.
1. Top-Heavy Awkwardness:
Please refer to FIGS. 1, 4, 10, 20 and 21. For prior art “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-alarm device”, some components such as alerting pod 20 with related parts are inserted into the round docking socket 122 of the shower head 10, while some components such as signal circuit device 30, impeller 40, and internal lid 50 with related parts are inserted into the impeller well 18 of the shower head 10 so that the bulky showerhead 10 becomes heavier at the top than the slender handle of the filter cartridge cylinder 70 at the bottom. Contrarily, for marketing product of conventional “handheld shower head with built-in filter”, there is no such status that the bulky showerhead 10 is heavier at the top than the slender handle of the filter cartridge cylinder 70 at the bottom. Accordingly, the showerhead set easily falling to hit the floor carelessly during shower owing to the top-heavy awkwardness in the prior art “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-alarm device”. Consequently, the components in the showerhead set not only easily shorten the service life but also quickly get into malfunction of water quantity measurement and pre-alarm.
2. Quickened Aging Fatigue:
Please refer to FIGS. 25 to 28. For operation of recharging the rechargeable battery 33 in the prior art hand held shower head with filter replacing pre-alarm device, the alerting pod 20 must be taken off from the round docking socket 122 of the showerhead 10 and reinsert into the round docking socket 122 of the showerhead 10. By frequently reiterative such recharging operation, the snap latching jut 124 in the round docking socket 122 of the showerhead 10 will be hastened into damaged incurred by aging fatigue. Consequently, the round docking socket 122 of the showerhead 10 not only easily shorten the service life but also forcibly oblige the user to replace the integral showerhead 10 unpunctually.
3. Redundant Purchase Waste:
Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 4. If the user wants to replace showerhead set from the conventional “handheld shower head with built-in filter” into prior art “handheld showerhead with filter replacing pre-alarm device” for health consideration, he/she must discard the conventional “handheld shower head with built-in filter”. Consequently, the conventional “handheld shower head with built-in filter”, which is to be discarded, not only causes the extra burden of environment protection but also causes extra cost burden for the user.
In addressing to the issues aforesaid, the inventor of the present invention enthusiastically researched and developed a new contrivance to overcome foregoing issues to work out the present invention eventually.